Segregation, Samantha Bee and Hypocrisy

The South is racist. I know this because I watch TV. I'm actually from the South as well, but I wouldn't have known how racist it was if not for the media constantly reminding me of "the fractured nation" and the "growing racial divide." Antifa, segregation, racial violence, these are things that seem more of a "First City Problem."

When Betsy DeVos, heir to the Amway fortune, was chosen to represent education in the Trump administration, she was swiftly labelled a "public school denier." I think this is pretty stupid personally. Of <i>course</i> public schools <strong>exist</strong>. They just aren't very effective in general.

The Center for American Progress attacked DeVos in a report entitled "The Racist Origins of Private School Vouchers." What CAP didn't take into account is the failings in the (worthy of denial, but unfortunately existent) public school system. Speaking of racism, how about that segregation. Thank God we got rid of those mean old Jim Crow laws so the schools would be integrated. They are integrated aren't they?

">After CAP released their report</a>, the <i>Wall Street Journal</i> offered a swift rejoinder in the form of an editorial supporting DeVos and arguing that she "recognizes that the public-school monopoly her union backs is now under siege, morally and politically, for its failure to educate children, especially minority children.

So you're telling me getting rid of Jim Crow in the South didn't fix it? Sadly, racial segregation hasn't improved much in decades in certain areas. A 2013 study by professors John Logan and Brian Stults of Brown University and Florida State revealed the shocking truth about segregation in schools our age.

In fact, the top ten "most liberal" cities in the US also feature the most gentrification and the most school and cultural segregation. "Do as I say, not as I do" principle in full effect here. Logan and Stults' study used census data to score cities based on a 0-100 scale, in which scores of 60 and higher are <a href="

Many of the top 10 populous cities have large Black populations and tend to be in the northern region of the US. "Do as I say, not as I do" is the rallying cry of the hypocrite. Like when Samantha Bee of the political commentary and "comedy" series <i>Full Frontal</i> on TBS complained about MSNBC's <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/media/323385-samantha-bee-is-late-night-tvs-leading-hypocrite-on-racial-diversity">hiring practices</a> (they don't have enough African American women, evidently). Her equally smug and snarky complaint went viral through Twitter, but according to the International Movie Database (IMDB). One of her 33 staff members listed happened to be an African-American woman. 1 out of 33. That's 3.03% of her staff. There's a pun to be made somewhere involving pots, kettles and the lack of black staffers, but I'm just too lazy to work it out right now.

This wouldn't be the only case where Samantha Bee had been caught up in a bit of the old hypocrisy. The Hill lambasted Bee earlier this year:

<blockquote>But Bee will get a pass here because media routinely fawns over the myopic narrative of her program: Attack Trump, attack conservatives, all without remotely considering making a joke about the other side, and you'll be receiving weekly praise and plenty of awards for the next few decades.

Part of that attack came earlier this week when Bee decided it was a great idea to shame a 20-year-old student who is undergoing treatment for brain cancer with the kind of hyperbole that is now part of the daily vernacular when it comes to Trump. (Or for that matter, anything to the right of John Kasich.)

Samantha Bee is late night TV's leading hypocrite when it comes to racial diversity

TBS's "Full Frontal" represents the worst kind of hypocrisy when it comes to scolding other networks for their hiring practices.

Exhibit A came on Wednesday, when the increasingly pious Samantha Bee of "Full Frontal" decided to target MSNBC for not hiring enough black women to work at the network.

"You know, maybe cable news should hire more black women, except not you, MSNBC, we know you’d sweep her out of the way to make room for whichever Roger Ailes’ harassment survivor pops out of your underground railroad next week,” Bee declared before putting up a mock promo for former Fox News host Gretchen Carlson smiling alongside the MSNBC logo.

On cue, many in media ran with Bee's comments as they often do in an effort to help the lecture go viral.

But how many stopped at asked a simple question?

How many black women are currently on the "Full Frontal" staff at TBS?

A request for comment was not returned from Turner PR. But International Movie Database (IMDB) does list cast and crew of movies and television programs alike, including Bee's.

Result? Bee's program employs one African-American woman out of a staff of 33 producers, directors and writers listed.

But Bee will get a pass here because media routinely fawns over the myopic narrative of her program: Attack Trump, attack conservatives, all without remotely considering making a joke about the other side, and you'll be receiving weekly praise and plenty of awards for the next few decades.

Part of that attack came earlier this week when Bee decided it was a great idea to shame a 20-year-old student who is undergoing treatment for brain cancer with the kind of hyperbole that is now part of the daily vernacular when it comes to Trump. (Or for that matter, anything to the right of John Kasich.)

"This year, the bow ties were gone, replaced by Nazi hair, Nazi hair, Nazi hair…” the show's "correspondent" Michael Rubens said while showing a photo of Coddington. To be fair, obviously neither Rubens nor Bee nor the crack producing and writing team could have possibly known Coddington was receiving treatment that changed the color of his hair from dark to orange. But they clearly could have seen this was a very young adult who may not reacted very well to being called a Nazi in front of millions on national television without the ability to defend himself.

That's called bullying, and the show should be utterly ashamed regardless of the cancer aspect. </blockquote>

The hypocrisy gets deeper though. Former <i>Daily Show</i> comedic correspondent and HBO host, John Oliver, did a series on segregation that pointed out segregation in liberal utopias like New York City are far worse than in the South. Shortly after the John Oliver segment, news broke that Samantha Bee and her husband (another former <i>Daily Show</i> alumnus) Jason Jones were fighting to make sure that their children didn't have to bear "the burden of integration" as one parent in the district put it.

Samantha Bee and Jason Jones both showed up to protest a rezoning plan that would increase the amount of minorities in the school district. The school population is currently 74% white and Asian and 9% low-income in a district that is only 43% white and Asian and 48% low-income.

This is less a case of "money where your mouth is" and more of "your life where your values live." Samantha Bee and other champagne socialists and limousine liberals seem more than willing to tell other people how to do what they themselves are unwilling. Until they're ready to walk the walk they make good money talking, we may always have complaints of the "smug liberal" problem.